In biotechnology and other high tech industries, micro particle manipulation is of increasing importance. Cellular and molecular manipulation is difficult, if not impossible in certain circumstances, when using physical instruments.
It is known in the art that electromagnetic gradient forces (EMGF) can be used to trap micro particles and cause translational motion. Various techniques are also known for carrying out optical rotation of micro particles. Trapping and/or rotation of micro particles is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,363,190 to Inaba et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,890 to Wilson et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,710,279, 3,808,550, 4,092,535, and 4,893,886 to Ashkin et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,721 to Martin et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,079,169 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,028 to Chu et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,504 to Sridharan, U.S. Pat. No. 5,308,976 to Misawa et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,105 to Nishimura et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,512,745 to Finer et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,212,382 to Sasaki et al.
In the prior art, rotation of the micro particles is not carried out using the angular momentum of light.